Thursday, July 6, 2017

A Vintage Journey July Challenge - All Squared Up

The July Challenge is up over at A Vintage Journey! Tracy is our hostess this month and her challenge is "All Squared Up".

Here is the challenge description in her own words: "Whether
a frame, embellishment, die cuts, drawn squares, doodles or windows,
let's see where inspiration takes you, let's get all squared up and show
how creative those right angles can look! Show us your squared up
pieces in a vintage; shabby; mixed media; art journaling; industrial,
timeworn or steampunk style."

I had a completely different idea in my head when I walked into my craft room to start my project - but as I started looking through my 'stuff' I found these wonderful vintage linen napkins that I purchased many years ago at an antique shop in Vermont (6 for $10.00!) and they were just waiting for me to pull them out and do something with them!

And stenciling is what I did to them!

Wendy Vecchi has a wonderful tutorial on the Ranger blog here - from last December, showing how she stenciled on hand towels for Christmas.

(the cuttings in the pitcher are Solomon'a Seal and Ladies Mantle from my garden)

So my 'squares' are the square napkins as well as the Checkmate Stencil background on each napkin.

I stamped a tiny red bird on the tree - but the clarity of the outline got blurred with the colors behind it but I like the little punch of color and you can see it's a bird when you look up close!!

All the stencils, stamps (accept for the little bird) and inks are by Wendy Vecchi.

Here are a several photos of my process.

This stencil is Layered Tree - first I stenciled the tree trunk using WV Archival Tree Branch. Then I moved the stencil to the leaf piece, lined it up over the stenciled trunk and sponged with WV Archival Leaf Green.

I wanted to have something that would unify the linen napkins since I used different images on each one - so I stenciled the same sentiment on each napkin using Wendy's Sentiments Stencil and WV Archival Watering Can Ink. I also stenciled Wendy's Check Mate Stencil around each image using WV Archival Sky Blue ink.

For this napkin, I stamped the Cone Flower from Wendy's Stamp It Stencil It set twice using Archival Jet Black Ink

Then I used the stencil of the set to color the flower and leaves using WV Archival Cactus Flower and Leaf Green

For the next napkin, I used another Stamp It Stencil It set called In Full Bloom - stamping the image and then stenciling with Tiger Lily and Sun Flower.

Here you can see how the stencil masks the flower and lines up with the stamped leaves so you can color each section separately.

I'm not sure how well the colors will stand up to washing. I ironed over the stenciling to heat seal them as suggested by Wendy in her tutorial.

We hope you will join us this month over at A Vintage Journey with your All Squared Up project! You have until August 3rd to link up your creation.

Our sponsor this month is Tando Creative. A randomly chosen entry will win a Tando package of MDF and mini shapes.

Please check out the challenge and all of the wonderful 'square' inspiration from our awesome Creative Guides! You'll find it all here.

17 comments:

Wow Julia what a wonderful collection of beautifully vintaged napkins. I love the idea of stencilling on them and each one is a beauty in its own right with an individual design and brought together brilliantly with the squared stencil. Wendy's flowers worked perfectly and have provided you with a fabulous set of designer napkins for your dinner table or teatime party. Love these xxx

A beautiful set of vintage napkins, Julia! Using the checkmate stencil in the background and cheers was a perfect idea to unify them, but I love that each is different. You've done a perfect job of stenciling them, and those flowers look fabulous! I would have been too nervous I might mess them up! Great project for the squares theme this month--delightfully different! Hugs!PS Love that vase of greenery from your garden--your garden must be lovely!

This is such an ingenious idea Julia, the stamping looks so crisp and clear and the archivals colour the images so beautifully. I love how you interpreted Tracy's challenge - you are so clever!! Hugs, Anne xx

What an absolutely brilliant take on this challenge Julia! I am a linen lover and collector and will just have to try this out on my own. Amazing use of these stencils and such beautiful designs. Hugs, Autumn

Such a fantastic interpretation of the Challenge theme, Julia . You have added such beauty to your set of vintage napkins with your wonderful image stenciling- so crisp and precise. The checkerboard stenciling both highlights and unifies the images perfectly and your choice of sentiment is ideal. Really love these . hugs x

Oh wow Julia, - this is such a brilliant interpretation of the theme!! Each napkin looks just wonderful by itself, and together they make for a fantastic set! I just love the whole idea of this, so original and clever!!

What a fabulous and beautiful interpretation of the challenge Julia, I adore your lovely stenciled vintage napkins and using the checkerboard stenciling in the background of each tied them all together perfectly. Thanks so much for sharing them, Deb xo

About Me

I have loved doing arts and crafts all my life. I live in Massachusetts and am very happily married to Kent who encourages my craftiness! I have one grown son, and two beautiful Russian blue cats.
I started my blog as a place to share my card stamping and paper arts - I hope it inspires you as all of your blogs inspire me!

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